Masked
by parsimonious osculator
Summary: Charlotte Syn has always had a soft spot for Mikey Way- but will she still be able to hide it after all of these years? Especially when things around her begin to deteriorate and she'll need him now more than ever? MW/OC


Charlotte Syn sat alone on the tour bus, her eyes downcast and wary against the plush carpeting below her feet. The boys were busy without her, off signing fans' CD's, t-shirts, chests, what have you, and she knew they were having a great time even though she wasn't there alongside them. She let out a sigh that shuddered out of her mouth and dribbled past her lips into the humid air. Curse those idiot boys for turning off the AC before they left. It was like they had forgotten she was there. _No_, she thought. _It isn't _like_ they forgot; they did. And you know it. _

Twisting her Converse off with her feet seemed to prove a challenge, but she didn't have the energy to bend down and remove them with her hands, so she continued wriggling around as the time ticked slowly past. She took this moment alone to bitterly think to herself, let the angry thoughts come forth and consume her mind completely while they still had the chance. As she kicked her right shoe off, she reflected on the boys' band name: _My Chemical Romance. _She rolled her eyes and snorted. _More like My Chemical Bromance. _

They always seemed more interested in each other rather than she, small Frankie Iero's cousin who had, over the course of three long years, nudged herself into their friends' circle successfully and was now regarded as a sister to all of them. But they still managed to look straight past her sometimes. She didn't like it very much, especially since she had adjusted her lifestyle drastically in order to be able to travel with them. She sighed again, a trembling sigh, and finally shook off the opposite shoe.

Charlotte had had the intention of collapsing onto her bed and falling into a fitful sleep until the five nutjobs came back, but she heard them clambering into the vehicle before she could even move a muscle. Although, she didn't want them to know she had been sitting there the entire time, complaining to herself and such. So she quickly shoved herself underneath her comforter, yanked it up to her chin, and shut her eyes. Maybe then they would feel sorry for her. They would think, oh, poor little one fell asleep while we were gone, she's so adorable, should we wake her and say sorry and maybe microwave her some Ramen?

But they didn't say anything like that. She heard them shuffling around the bus, only hearing disgruntled mutters every so often, until she heard four _thud_'s in unison and realize that four band members had fallen into bed, leaving one awake. It must have been _exhausting_, all that writing. Charlotte allowed her eyes to open ever so slightly, and she scanned the view in front of her.

Her bed was positioned snugly in between the kitchen and the 'living room' (which was basically just a couch and a television shoved into a tiny space), and she could see nearly everything from where she was laying, except for, of course, the boys' bedroom, which was near the back of the bus, whereas she was closer to the front.

She saw a shadow of someone walking about in the kitchen, and realized, as she saw a flash of slick blonde, that it was Mikey, rushing about to prepare himself a meal. She smiled to herself, despite her angry feelings towards her 'brothers'. She had always possessed a soft spot for Mikey, despite how he treated her much like a younger sibling (although Charlotte was only a few months younger than the thinner Way brother).

Charlotte decided to leave her bed and go see what Mikey was cooking up; hopefully it wasn't a fork in the toaster again, because she remembered that disaster like it had happened just the day before, although it had actually been years beforehand.

As she slowly maneuvered her way past the bandmates' possessions strewn about the floor, she heard Mikey humming some bizarre tune as he plucked a bowl from the cabinet. The bus suddenly shifted underneath Charlotte, and she lurched forward, falling into the doorway to the kitchen. So much for being sneaky. Damn their nameless bus driver.

She heard Mikey laugh, and along with that, she also heard a chorus of swear words spilling out of the back of the bus; some tired men must have been knocked out of bed.

Mikey Way's beaten-up sneakers came into view, followed by slender fingers that promised assistance in helping Charlotte up. She immediately grabbed at them and was pulled up gently from the floor. She grinned her thanks, and glanced around the kitchen. It was an absolute mess and she itched to quickly run through and clean everything up, at least a bit. Mikey was gazing at her in a slightly concerned way, an amused smile pulling at the corners of his thin mouth.

"Well, well, well, good morning, sleepyhead," he remarked, reaching out to roughly muss up her straight, chestnut-brown hair. She frowned, furrowing her brows in a teasingly angry way, and he smirked before going back to his cooking.

"You're not going to stick the eating utensils into the toaster again, are you?" she questioning, matching his smirk with one of her own and cocking her head to the side. He glared over at her, and he would have seemed sincerely mad had he not been smiling at the same time he fixed her with that deathly stare.

"Maybe I will, just because of your little comment," Mikey hissed, smiling evilly at her as he lifted a fork into the air above the plugged-in toaster. He started cackling madly, and Charlotte's eyes widened as he brought the fork swinging down, just nearly missing the kitchen appliance. She let out an involuntary sigh of relief, and the boy started giggling, dropping the fork onto the countertop. "You thought I was actually serious?"

"Of course I did!" Charlotte said defensively, frowning in a slightly scolding way. "You're Mikey Way, you wouldn't hesitate to do something stupid like that just to prove a point or to mock someone or to scare someone..." she paused, not wanting to get into a heated rant. The angry thoughts were starting to rear their ugly heads again in the back of her mind, and while Mikey had momentarily distracted her from them, they were still there, lurking in the far recesses of her skull, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. "Ugh. Could I have a hug? I'm not feeling too well..." Charlotte outstretched her thin arms, to have Mikey almost immediately step forward to embrace her. He was the type of hugger who squeezed the huggee in an immensely reassuring way, and she always liked it. The moment he pulled away, she tried with every ounce of her being to hide her desire to hug him another time. Before her face could mistakenly reveal her true feelings, she said, "Well, I'm off to bed. Night, Mike..." and disappeared out of view.

Gerard Way had tumbled out of bed and had been too tired to crawl back into it. Frank Iero had only his legs remaining on his mattress, and his comforter had been tossed off of the bed with him, now hiding the short man's upper-half. Ray's mess of hair was the only thing visible from underneath his blankets, and Bob was on the floor, wrapped in a cocoon of cloth, snoring loudly. The moment Mikey Way entered the room with his steaming bowl of Ramen, he started screaming with laughter at the sight before him, causing all of his bandmates to stir in either a subtle or an overly dramatic way. Frank, for instance, shot up and squealed, whereas Bob grunted and rolled over in his sleep. Gerard cursed at his brother and Ray yelled, "SHUUUUUUUUUUUT UP!" They all heard Charlotte moving about now, and listened carefully to her travelling about the bus. She peered inside the room a moment later, and glared at each of them in turn.

"Why do you guys always have to make me _so angry_?" she asked, giving each person looking a genuine frown before retreating out of sight. Mikey arched an eyebrow and craned his neck around the corner, watching her disappear into the kitchen.

"What's her ish...issuuueee?" Gerard questioned, his words tumbling around in a wide, exaggerated yawn.

Mikey shrugged, taking a seat on the floor and cautiously twisting the noodles around his fork. "I think she's just having a bad day, is all," he spoke absently, shoving a forkful of Ramen into his mouth and chewing thoughtfully. The boys, at least the only ones still awake, all nodded in understanding even though they still didn't understand at all. Gerard stood up, giving himself a nice stretch that he accompanied with a delighted groan, and walked toward the doorway, scratching the back of his neck. Mikey leaned out of his brother's way, not wanting one of his heavy footfalls to land on his thin frame.

He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, savoring the aroma of Ramen underneath his nose. Oh, how he loved Ramen.

Frank eyed the boy for a moment, then smiled slightly, as if he was in on a secret that Mikey was unaware of. However, the other boy didn't notice, and only continued to consume his noodles happily.


End file.
